What do you think of PN's new look?

By: Anthony J. Eagan

January 21, 2013

By now you've seen, and we hope, noticed, that there's a new look to Plastics Newsboth in print and online. After almost 24 years we thought it was time to update our logo, and with so many changes happening in the digital world we knew we had to update our website, too.

The new, more contemporary logo is shown here.

The real changes though, are online and with our new products.

We have built a new site from scratch and we think you're going to like it. You'll see it is a much cleaner, less cluttered look and the navigation is improved, with quicker access to stories. Our 10 busiest news channels are clearly arranged on the home screen. Popular features like Don Loepp's "The Plastics Blog," Frank Esposito's "Materials Insights" video, the weekly Opinion Poll, and our FYI infographic charts all are prominent on the home page. Simply put, more news and data — fewer clicks.

Resin pricing, both current (for all viewers) and historical (for PN's paid subscribers), are easily accessed via the navigation bar atop the screen, as are the various, and exclusive, rankings and lists we publish annually.

Industry events information, including PN's own conferences, is one click away from the home page. Classified ads — from help wanted to used/rebuilt machinery — are also just a click away.

Eagan

For mobile users, take a look at PlasticsNews.com on your device. On a tablet the new site looks great. On a smartphone, you'll see we've added news channels to our mobile home page. Be sure to save a shortcut on your device for quick access to the hottest news.

Aside from the website redesign, we've been busy in other areas. We added five more newsletters in 2012, and our domestic total for broadcasts is now up to 10 ... and counting.

We're running five conferences this year. Three are established events — the Executive Forum, Plastics in Medical Devices, and Caps & Closures — and we've added Workforce Solutions West in June and Plastics Innovations in Building & Construction in November.

In May we launched our new, in-depth series of data-rich

Market Reports. We published seven reports last year and we're planning to release reports monthly in 2013. In fact, we just released our third of a series on North America's injection molders. Visit the PN Data Store online for details.

There is an abundance of informational and opinionated noise out there today — much of it online, with no editorial filters. There are lots of content aggregators, and websites that offer little more than one-sided press releases. This makes the need for an independent, experienced publishing staff that can add balance and context more critical than ever.

Whether you're one of our print subscribers, or you're among our frequent website visitors (and many of you are both), you need to have confidence in the business information that you're reading. While we've added a few people with specific technical skills to help us move forward, let me stress that we still have seven original staffers from 1989 and another two with more than 20 years at PN. And many more have 15-plus years with us!

Plastics News still employs the largest and most experienced publishing staff serving this industry. For 24 years we've stayed true, serving our readers first. So, let us know what you think. Write us, call us, "Like" us on Facebook or "Follow" us on Twitter. And for you impatient folks who can't wait to connect to a server or wait for a page to load … just pick up the paper. It's still a great read.